Drawing on my Summoning Sphere again, I used the last of my Summoning Points—and the last of my mana reserves—to conjure two Magma Apes. They were level two, so they used two points each. My mana was depleted already, and the effort of summoning nearly made me pass out. I thought fleetingly that I should have had Kyrine create me a mana pot or three before heading out on this fight. We’d left in a hurry, and the thought had not occurred to me. I wouldn’t do that again.

A wave of nausea surged through me and lights danced before my eyes, but I saw that my efforts were immediately paying off.

I hadn’t seen the Magma Apes since that first fight during the test with Kyrine. Now I saw that they were magnificent. Their presence lit up the clearing we stood in, sending an orange glow flickering everywhere about us. They were burning like torches, flames streaming from the gaps in their stone-plate skins, droplets of magma hissing and setting fire to the dry grass around them as they thundered toward the fight.

Belinda suddenly materialized beside me, panting and leaning on my shoulder.

“You all right?” I gasped, still reeling from the effort of expending the last of my mana. She nodded, wordlessly. Her face had gone an ashen gray.

The Magma Apes began to tear into the Cobra. Weakened as it was by Astrid and Selena’s attacks, and confused by Belinda’s efforts inside its rudimentary mind, the Cobra was unable to gather enough focus to do any more summoning.

As it disappeared under a rain of fiery blows from the Magma Apes, Astrid, Selena, and my Cougar and Whelp all tore at the Cobra mercilessly.

Looking toward where the zombie fight had happened, I released the Force Barrier that had contained that fight. The mess of smashed zombies that had coated the inside of the barrier fell to the ground with a wet splattering noise. My three Flesh Munchers were still standing, their bulbous, toothy heads swaying gently back and forth, covered in blood and zombie guts. They appeared to have eaten most of the zombies’ flesh, and there was not much left.

Smiling, I dispersed them and reabsorbed the mana, feeling instantly stronger.

I turned back to the fight with the Cobra, ready to summon another creature with my newly restored mana, but there was no need. Even as I turned my head in that direction, I saw Astrid lean down to wrench the Cobra’s monstrous head from its neck. She raised it up in the air and then smashed it onto the rocky ground. The huge, sinuous body writhed and twitched for a moment, then lay still.

We had won.

Chapter 26